In August, online shopping transactions surpassed 24 trillion won, marking an increase compared to the same month last year. The rise was driven by increased spending in food services, groceries, and travel and transportation services. However, compared to the previous month, transaction amounts decreased, with online consumption of certain categories like clothing and electronics also declining.
According to the National Data Agency's 'August 2026 Online Shopping Trends' report released on October 1, the total online shopping transaction amount for August was 24.2118 trillion won, a 7.3% increase from the same month last year, amounting to an increase of 1.6404 trillion won.
By category, transactions in services and food saw significant growth. Food service transactions reached 3.9677 trillion won, up 7.6% from the previous year. Grocery transactions increased by 9.8% to 3.5430 trillion won, while travel and transportation services rose by 8.7% to 3.2784 trillion won.
Conversely, some categories experienced declines. Clothing transactions fell by 4.4% to 1.3263 trillion won, and shoe transactions decreased by 1.9% to 249.6 billion won. Although electronics transactions increased by 0.9% to 1.3374 trillion won compared to the previous year, they plummeted by 22.2% compared to July. Clothing also saw a 19.3% drop from the previous month.
Food services accounted for the largest share of total online shopping transactions at 16.4%, followed by groceries at 14.6% and travel and transportation services at 13.5%. Overall, service transactions totaled 8.3010 trillion won, an 8.0% increase from the previous year.
Mobile transactions also saw growth. In August, mobile shopping transactions reached 18.9021 trillion won, a 5.8% increase from the same month last year, although this represented a 3.2% decrease from July. Mobile shopping accounted for 78.1% of total online shopping transactions, down 1.1 percentage points from the same month last year.
Within mobile shopping, food services dominated with transactions of 3.9312 trillion won, making up 20.8% of total mobile transactions. Groceries accounted for 15.3% with 2.8968 trillion won, while travel and transportation services represented 12.1% with 2.2805 trillion won.
The year-on-year growth rate for mobile transactions was particularly notable in agricultural and marine products, which saw mobile transactions of 1.1178 trillion won, an 18.4% increase. Food services grew by 7.9%, and groceries increased by 7.8%. In contrast, mobile clothing transactions fell by 8.4% to 976.2 billion won.
In terms of online transactions by category, food services had the highest mobile share at 99.1%. E-coupon services followed at 92.3%, and children's products at 84.4%. As online consumption continues to focus on mobile-friendly services and food, variations in mobile usage patterns are evident across different product categories.
By sales format, both general and specialized malls saw increases in transaction amounts. General mall transactions rose by 7.4% to 12.8655 trillion won, while specialized malls increased by 7.1% to 11.3463 trillion won. In terms of operational format, online mall transactions grew by 6.9% to 18.7577 trillion won, while hybrid online-offline malls increased by 8.6% to 5.4541 trillion won.
Meanwhile, excluding service transactions such as travel and transportation, the online shopping product transaction amount in August was 15.9108 trillion won, accounting for 29.2% of total retail sales. This figure is down 1.1 percentage points from July's 30.3%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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